Fastest Boy Alive
by RadicalKevin123
Summary: Wally disappears and is not prepared for what is to come. Artemis realizes a part of her is gone, and Dick is on a mission to find out the truth behind his best friend's "death". Heart ache! And Spitfire! and kind of sort of Birdflash! Feels shed. I am sorry.


**Author's note: So i decided to torture myself by writing this for my Creative Writing class. it hurt. a lot. Im sorry. **

* * *

**Fastest Boy Alive**

No one told him that death would be this fast. None of his training revealed what lay beyond the life he had, and he wasn't ready for what was waiting. It just happened so sudden, so quick. Faster than a blink or twitch of an eyelid, than a girl pulling back the string of her bow and letting an arrow fly out to its target, than a man's acrobatic reflex's as he took down one bad guy after another. Faster than even him, himself. Than the fastest man around, or at least, one of them anyways. However it was, he was just not ready for what happened. Not yet.

The goodbye had been easier than what he had expected. Running around the machine meant to destroy as heated rays struck his body, saying those last words to his mentor, as the older man in all red begged him to stop, that the blows were killing him. That was easy. The moment had given him enough courage to face death like a man, prepared for whatever awaited him beyond. He expected it to be excruciating, like a million bullets shooting into his body, similar to what he felt every time a new wave of energy hit. But what he didn't realize was that it wasn't like that at all. But instead, something that no one would have guessed, would have imagined.

He simply disappeared.

Poof, just like that, he was gone. Death? No. Still upon this world? No. But now just…nothing. It had been way too fast, too sudden. And for him, the Kid Flash, Wally West, to say that, it had to be true. It hadn't hurt either. That part was shocking too. No pain, but a jittering feeling, that started within the pit of his stomach, and in a fraction of a millisecond, had spread to his entire body as his molecules dissolved. As a scientist himself, he would have found this situation very peculiar if he was simply observing. Matter wasn't supposed to be created, or destroyed, right? Yet, here he was, or rather, wasn't, as he dissolved within the space around him, seeing for one last time a look on the other man's face, of horror and pain.

And then he was gone.

* * *

The funeral was over shortly. Who could take watching the workers as they slowly lowered the empty coffin of Wally West into the ground? Everyone had left soon after the ceremony had started, guilt and sadness in all of the gazes around. No one would even know of Kid Flash's sacrifice, the Martyr that he was. No one would ever know, just that a loving man of red hair and green eyes dyed too young for the world's liking, with a future he could never accomplish. Never finishing out his last years at Stanford, never getting his dream career as a Chemistry major. And never finally getting to ask the woman of his life to spend eternalness with him.

The ring was still hidden underneath his clothes in the drawer. He had been planning to ask her that night, the night both of them finally had returned, together again. With the girl undercover for more than three months, he knew it had been time to pop the question. He had chosen this night, when the world was saved, and both could return to retirement, like they had planned. The universe was cruel, though. Had to find another way to split them apart once more, for no one could ever be too happy.

And that's what she had been. Too happy. Her, Artemis, the Green Archer, who had been through so much in her entire life to deserve something like this, was too happy. After all the years of torture from her family that chose a life of crime instead of her, after the rejection she had felt from her former team, after months of hiding within the mask of a villain herself, she was too happy. It had been wrong, she hadn't deserved that love, that happiness she felt, and she suffered for it now.

She had arrived back to their apartment with tears threatening to cut loose from her grey eyes. It had only been four days. Four lousy days, and she could barley go on. Her heart had been cut in half, ripped from her chest and buried beside that stupid, empty coffin they had insisted on putting in the ground. All of this was too much. Too much. He had been her muse, her other self, for the past six years, and now, he was simply gone, taking a part of her with him as a souvenir. Water touched her cheeks now, as salty drops found a path down her face, and suddenly, she felt a wave of anger as it grabbed hold and planted itself within her destroyed heart.

How could he? _How dare he?_

Leave her here alone, without him, only those silly last words she had apparently thought were good enough for a goodbye.

_"Artemis, he wanted me to tell you, he loved you." _

The last sentence he had told her, and not even from his own lips. And it ached to think that he just excepted his fate, without even trying to tell her the words himself. How dare he! Anger exploding like fireworks within her stomach, she screamed in a pitiful outrage, causing their dog to glance up in confusion. She stomped toward their bedroom, the room where they had spent so many nights together, whispering sweet nothings and holding each other close until either fell asleep, and began opening the dresser. His boxers and her underwear was the first drawer, their own scents still mingling within the closed space, and a sharp pain throbbed into her throat. She let out a harsh cry.

Her hands dug into the fabric, as she began to pull out all of the garments and throw them onto the hard wood floor. She didn't want to stop, she wanted to rid herself as fast as possible of everything that was his. But that was the only problem. How could she do that, when she belonged to him as well?

She cried out again, a sobbing wreck as she slowly stopped in the midst of her task. There were pieces of clothes scattered over her feet and the floor around her, prints of stripes, dots, bats, and lightning bolts all mixed together. He hands remained in the drawer, too caught up to move them anywhere else, and felt a hard object barely touching her pinky. Carefully, she shifted her hand slightly and noticed that it was some kind of box. Still sniffling as more tears continued to slide down, she pulled out the item, unaware of more pain it would cause her.

It was a ring box, and within the case, was a beautiful silver band and a tiny note crumpled to go with it. She covered her mouth as sobs escaped it, and opened up the folded piece of paper to reveal the letter written.

_Dear Artemis,_

_Wow. This is weird. If someone would have told me back those five years ago that we were going to fall in love, I would have laughed out loud! But babe, now I would still laugh at that, because we are so much more. I couldn't think of anything else I'd rather do than to just have a simple conversation with you, or hold hands, or kiss. I would trade anything for you, Arty. My home, friends, my life. And now, here we are, and here I am. Saying this to you._

_I know I have been a jerk lately, especially when you needed me most. But babe, this is my apology, and my peace offering that I give you, so please except it. Artemis, you are my spitfire, my love, my life. Will you do the gracious honor of adding another thing, say…wife? To that list?_

_ Marry me?_

_ Love the Wallman_

She fell to the floor as her strong legs gave away, landing amidst the pile of his clothing she had thrown.

Artemis cried.

* * *

A face that was hard stone. No expression to present for the aftermath. Nothing but a blank stare would be given for the man that no longer walked with the living. There was too much grief already that was meant for Wally, and one person would not let himself join in. There was too much to be done, to much he had already lost to succumb to the depression in everyone else's eyes. No, his best friend would not grieve for the loss. Not yet.

Something had been off. The day Kid Flash had come to cease. Something, and he wasn't sure what that something was, had been wrong. The way the red-headed man had disappeared-disintegrated, before the other's eyes. That wasn't normal. Death wasn't like that. Death was painful, harsh, unforgiving, and brutal. He knew. But this, the passing of his friend, was too different. And the man was going to figure it out before he could mourn properly. He had to know.

In a dark room, the Nightwing sat. A computer screen emanating his hard features of ebony hair and icy blue eyes, the only light source within the entire space of the apartment. Research first. Page after page he searched, finding every detail he could. What to look for exactly, he had no idea. All that mattered was finding the truth in the subject, whatever that may be, however he may find it. First the computer, then onto the site of the situation, where it all occurred. Back to the north, to the cold icy pole where the man was last seen, before the unnecessary casualty. It would be hard to find any clues they had missed, but not impossible, especially for him, the world's second greatest detective. It was the only thing he could do for this situation in front of him, slowly starting to take affect and hit him hard. He had to stay strong, not begin to shatter. For himself. For his best friend. But it was getting to him; the pain of losing someone so close to you that it feels as if a piece of yourself has gone missing in the process. Too much internal pain for his liking. He had been through the feeling too much already to know.

Wally bore a spot for him within his heart. He had a knack for that kind of thing, making people fall for him with one glance or word. He had done that very thing to his best pal too. Dick Grayson could only really say that he truly loved about five people, and Wally was, without a doubt, one of them. Since the start, the two had been unstoppable together. The green eyed speedster had been twelve, he himself only nine. And because of that moment when they had first met, the two had become as close as brothers, perhaps even closer still. But, he was gone now. Left without Dick even letting him say what he had really felt, not being able to say an apology, instead disappearing into nothing and making the man live with the last conversation they had shared. It had been a fight. A harsh fight.

_"The cave was just a place, Wally! Worth sacrificing for the sake of the mission! Look, I'm sorry that your stupid souvenirs got blown up-"_

_ "Are you serious! I don't care about those things, I'm worried about Artemis! Terrified for her! You let her fall right into his hands!"_

He never had the chance to apologize, to ask for forgiveness. But he refused to believe that Wally would really be gone when they didn't even have the chance to make up. Wouldn't except it, until he could prove, with the work of his research and searching, that the man really did perish out of this world, without even telling him goodbye. It was impossible.

He had to keep trying.

* * *

A sharp intake of a breath. A beating heart, faster and faster as shock overcame the body laying upon the nightly lit asphalt road. Trembling muscles felt all over, fingers twitching and toes wrinkling as if getting used to actual movement from years and years of stiffness. Fluttering eyes as the lids refused to open fully to the world around, not properly adjusted to the dark, spotted sky above. Steady breaths finally, as the body slowly came to, realizing where it was, and with a quick jolt, the back arched off of the ground, and the man was brought to a sitting position in the middle of the street.

He was alive. He was actually alive! His green eyes darted to stare at all of the surroundings, excited that he could see once more. It had been so…blurry, where he used to be. Never ending fog was the only memory he had of the place he returned from, a force of emptiness that had held his body in place. Not death, he had finally known that piece of information once he disappeared fully within the energy speed, but a sort of stand still paradox that he had come to discover. It didn't matter now however, everything was going to be okay; he was here, he was back, he was-

Wait…_who was he again?_


End file.
